Iraqi PM accepts resignation of 6 cabinet ministers

BAGHDAD (AP) — The office of Iraq's prime minister says he has accepted the resignation of six cabinet ministers, including the oil and interior ministers.

The announcement came in a brief statement posted Tuesday on the web page of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

The Interior Minister, Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban, resigned following a massive central Baghdad bombing on July 3 that killed nearly 300 people. It was later announced that al-Abadi has accepted his resignation. Tuesday's announcement appears to formalize that decision.

Beside the oil minister, al-Abadi accepted the resignation of the ministers of transport, housing, water resources and industry.

Al-Abadi has said that he wanted to break away from the power-sharing formula between political parties and replace some members of his cabinet with non-partisan technocrats to improve the government's much criticized performance.